Former VT Manufacturer Denies Fraud Charges

The former president of a Vermont manufacturing company that went out of business in 2007 has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges.

Mar 19th, 2012

The Associated Press

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (AP) — The former president of a Vermont manufacturing company that went out of business in 2007 has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges.

Donald James Marler III, the former president of Specialty Filaments, which once had plants to Burlington and East Middlebury, was indicted by a grand jury in Rutland last month. He's charged with conspiring with the director of finances and vice president of manufacturing to send inflated financial reports to its lender Wells Fargo, which allowed the company to borrow more.

The office of the U.S. attorney for Vermont said Friday that when the company went out of business, Wells Fargo discovered the value of its collateral was substantially less than the outstanding loan balance.

Wells Fargo and the Vermont Economic Development Authority lost more than $1 million.